The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-01-12

small. brI aimed hen. Let find the largest
brain evI Ier knof fn in Ar fica By post NOR
tenn exH animation dist Euished men have
metals hnd gas and lids and liquids, and
cries. They UNI |derste a embalmment as no
men in pur tinhe ur ferstand embalmuent-
And the y were KerWwise men. They were
not only amongi wiz men, but they were tue
Balthaz6r, a han Of middle age. and
beon measured and their intellectual capacity
has beeh calculated, and the size of the brain
has beeh found out Let us find the largest
brain ever known in America, and
find out then what that brain
thought of Christ. We have found
it. 1t Is the brain weighing some sixty
three ounces What did that man in his
lifetime think of Christ! In his dying mo-
mine unbelief. Almighty God, whatever
do, accept me at the last for Christ's sake.
This night shall be in Joy unutterable." So
Daniel Webster bowed at the manser. So
the mighty men of the East are followed by
the mighty men of the West.
My subject also impresses me with the fact
that it was the winter season that God as
signed for the nativity of His Son. Had it
been the month of May, that is the season Of
blossoms; had lit been the month Of June,
month of July, that is the season of great
harvests; had it been the month Of Septem-
ber, that is the seasoned Of ripened orchards;
had it been The month Of October, that is
the season Of upholstered forests; but it was
December, when all the flowers outdoors are
dead and all the crops that have not been
gathered are Perished, and there are no
ripening fruits on the hill, and the leaves
are driven ov| Ter the bare earth. In the
closing days off December, to show that this
Christ is for people in sharp blasts, for peo-
pie of frosted hopes, for people under dark
skies, for people with the thermometer be-
lew zero, for IIeople showed under. Christ
heard in His memory the wind whistling
around the Bethlehem caravansary. and he
is in sympathy with those who in their pow
erty hear the shutters clatter on cold night.
That was the Christ Washington and his
army worshipped when they lay down without
blankets in the December snow. That was the
Christ that the Pilgrim Fathers appealed to
when the BfdJlolrer wharfed at Plymouth
Rock, and for years after that December
landing the graves digged were more in num-
ber than the houses built. Not fair weather
Christ, but a December Christ Oh, the
world wants to be solaced and soothed and
lullabied in the arms Of sympathetic omuip-
otence and no mother ever with more ten
derness put ha or foot on the rocker of cradle
to hush sick child than the tenderness Of
this Christ comes to our invalid world, and
He rocks it into placidity and quiet with the
words: my peace give unto you; not as
the world giveth, give unto you" Oh, ye
and heartbroken, declare to you Decem-
Der Christ
But here is fact which many seem to for
get, perhaps all forget-my subject i'm
presses me with the fact that Christ was
born amid the sheep, and the cattle, and the
horses and the camels that He might be the
alleviation Of the whole brute creation.
Mercy for overdriven, underfed, poorly shell
tered, outraged brute creation. Do you think
that 1.-The Christ who compared Himself to
a dc has no indignation at the crueltias Of
q piE Eon shooting! Do you think that the
Chr6 p who compared Himself to lamb has
no Indignation at the rough tying and the
contorticn of the sheep and the hanging Of
their neck over the sharp edge Of the butchers
cart and the cattle train from Omaha to
New York. with no water in summer time,
the Christ who said: Go to the ant" does
not notice the transfixed insects? Do you
think that the Christ whose tax was paid by
the fish does not notice the tossing Of fin in
the fish market! Do you think that the
Christ who said: "Behold the fowls Of the
air." hath NO sympathy with the brute crea-
ton that cannot articulate its grief! Christ,
viopr, not only of the human race but the
alleviation of all the pangs and hardships
of the brute creation.
Lii the millenial time child is to lead
Eonian to play with cocatrice only be-
cause brute and reptile will have no more
outrages to avenge. The Lamb Of God gave
its first bleat amid the tired focks Of Beth
lehem. The white horse of eternal victory
stabbed in barn When you tread on the
brute creation you tread on God. Christ
born amid the beasts that He might sympa-
thize with the beasts, and hell the beasts, and
thunder His Indignation and His wrath
against meu who abuse the beasts
Inoti Q also. in this wonderful story OF the
text three Christmas presents brought to
Christ. just three. Gold, myrrh, franklin
cense. Gold brought to Christ What does
that meaul It means the affluence Of the
world is going to be surrendered to Jesus
For lack of money no more 'asylums limping
on their way like the invalids they support,
or feeling their rslow way like the blind whom
they shelter. Millions of dollars for Christ
there are now thousands of dollars Rail-
rood companies owned by Christian sto:k-
holders and controlled by Christian direc-
tors and carrying freights and passengers at
Christian prices Bank Of England, Bourse
moneyed institutions for Christ. The gold
for Christ No other meaning to it The
gold no more paid the way for
Mary and Joseph and the divine
refugee in Egypt than the gold shall pay the
way for Christ all round the world. The
gold for Christ, the silver for Christ, the
jewels for Christ Our great round, beau
tiful world like solitaire set on the bosom
Of Christ. All His, and He is worthy.
But the second Christmas present was
thu myrrh. Why the myrrh! The cattle
Fol l,,% IA ,,Nf
was too bitter. Why the myrrh! Why this
pungent gum resin Of Abysinnia brought for
Christi 1t meant bitt1rness. Bitterness Of
betrayal, bitterness Of persecution, bitterness
ofldars of suffering and nights of anguish.
MErrh. That is what they put into His cup
when He was dying. Myrrh. That is:what
the women wrapped in the shroud of the cru
cifed Christ. Myrrh. Aye, says the psalmist,
"sll thy garments smell Of myrrh." Oh the
helighth, the depth, the length, the breadth
ola Saviour's sorrow. No wonder the wise
m bn brought myrrh. But there was one
other thing they brought. They shook out
from the sack the frankincense. Clear up to
the rafters of the barn the perfume rose and
it'll floated out to the furthest room, where
the hostler and the camel drivers were
placed, and it foated out into the open
air, and people passing by that night won
dhrei and said, who could have broken box
of alabaster at that place by accident! Frank
incense. That was what they put on the CEN
sars in the ancient temple and burned it.
Frankincense. That means worship. Frank
cense Thut is what we shake out from our
souls this day until the nostrils of Christ
o. hce crimsoned with the hemorrhage of the
cross are filled with the perfume of a worlds
alteration. Frankincense. That is to fill all
the homes and all the churches and all the
nations and all the worlds. From deepest
cellar of stalactite cave clear up to the silver
rnGters of the Sunlit dome Frankincense